LEAVING CHEYENNE: LARRY MC MURTRY

This book was recommended by TV personality Don Imus, a big Mc Murtry fan.  I loved LONESOME DOVE,  taught his early novel THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, and I wanted a change from the kind of books I have been reading, mostly contemporary.  This, like LONESOME DOVE, is about cowboys and ranchers, and takes place in Texas, Wichita Falls, northwest of Fort Worth, just south of the Oklahoma state line.  The story begins in the early1900's, when Gideon Fry and Johnny Mc Cloud are teenagers, both courting the same girl, Molly Taylor.

The first half of the novel is through Gid's eyes, as he struggles to measure up to his father, to build on the ranch his father left him, and court Molly, without luck. The second section is through Molly's eyes, her struggles to survive an abusive father, being courted by Gid and Johnny, then a marriage to roustabout Eddie, thought she's always loved both Gid and Johnny more.  Unlike most women of her time, she explains why she does not follow the rules, lives more like a man, sleeping with whom she wants, when she wants, meaning both Gid and Johnny, and fathers a son from each of them.

The last third of the novel is told by Johnny, Gid's best friend and ranch hand for forty some years.  In this last part, all three are all in their late 60's, if not 70's, not quite what they used to be when young and reckless, but still engaged in ranching as if they were young boys. Gid is hospitalized for various problems, but when Johnny visits, they walk out of the hospital, and get right back to work, Gid as stubborn as ever.  He insists on fixing a well on a 90 degree day, falls, and dies, thus ending the novel for the most part.  We see both Molly and Johnny mourning his death; we assume they still remain friends though not living together and Johnny stops by every night to help with the chores and have dinner.  Not as good as LONESOME DOVE but I enjoyed living with the three of them, friends to the end despite their differences,  tough old codgers, all, independent and stubborn to the end, the kind that settled the West.